Thanks again for the reviews, follows and favorites! :o)
I thought the "Volunteer" muse was on a roll, but she hit a dead end about 840 words into the next chapter. It sucks, I know. I really hope she decides to get busy real soon!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything; wish it did though... ;o)
-Chapter 10-
A Saturday afternoon in the middle of January Auggie and Annie were both sitting on the couch, Annie was reading a book and Auggie was catching up on his Twitter timeline on his iPad when his iPhone started ringing. It was Josh. Ever since they'd cleared the air at Thanksgiving they'd stayed in touch on a regular basis.
"Hi Josh, what's up?" Auggie greeted his brother.
"Hi Aug. I need a favor."
"Sure, what do you need?"
"Would you mind if I crash in one of your guestrooms Thursday to Friday next week? I know it's short notice, but I'm attending a conference and there's been a screw-up with my hotel reservation and all the rooms available now are ridiculously overpriced."
"No problem! What about extending your stay a bit, stay the weekend? That would allow us to spend some time together. We haven't seen each other since Thanksgiving."
"I'd really like that. Do you think Annie is okay with that?"
"Oh, absolutely. Email me your itinerary, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks Aug. I really appreciate it. Anyway, how has your first weeks back at the office been?" Josh asked Auggie. "Do you regret deciding to stop working at home?"
"I'm still not a huge fan of commuting every day, but being back at the office is good. I didn't realize how much I've missed being part of the team and having co-workers 'till now. Or maybe I just haven't allowed myself to."
"Well, I'm glad it's working out for you. I know you had some reservations about it."
They chatted for a few more minutes before ending the call. When Auggie placed he phone back in his pocket and retrieved his iPad from the couch Annie was looking at him with a questioning look on her face.
"Who's coming to stay?" she asked.
"Josh. He's coming to town for a conference next Thursday and there's been a mix up with his hotel reservation and he asked if he could stay here. I hope it's okay?"
"Of course. He'll be here Thursday to Sunday next week?"
"Yep! He'll be at the conference all day Thursday and Friday. I asked him to stay 'till Sunday so we can spend some time together."
"Sounds good. It will be good for you two to spend some time together. If you want some male bonding time I'm sure Danielle won't mind if I come over."
"As much as male bonding sounds fun I want you two to get to know each other, okay?"
"I'd like that Auggie," Annie said as she put her book down on the coffee table and cuddled up next to him. He took the hint and put the iPad down before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, until they decided it was time to cook dinner.
Late in the afternoon the following Thursday Josh entered the foyer of the building where the Murphy offices were located with his wheelie bag in tow and headed over to the reception desk. Auggie had told him to just come over when he was done for the day and he could catch a ride with him back to his house.
"How may I help you sir?" the female receptionist greeted him.
"I'm here to see August Anderson at Murphy Software."
"Your name sir?"
"Joshua Anderson, I'm his brother."
"One moment please," she said as she picked up a phone. She exchanged a few sentences with Auggie and few moments later she hung up.
"Mr. Anderson's office is on the 13th floor, his office is number 1343, take a right when you step out of the elevator and it's on the left side of the hallway."
"Thanks," he said as he grabbed the visitor badge she handed him and headed over to the bank of elevators. Ten minutes later he reached Auggie's office. He was slightly awestruck when he saw his baby brother's spacious office; it sure was nicer than his own small office at Wrigley Field. He lightly knocked on the doorjamb.
A light knock on his doorjamb caught Auggie's attention. In the 10 minutes since the receptionist had called and he'd told her to send Josh up he'd tried to tie up a few loose ends before going home for the day. He looked up to see Josh standing in the doorway with a black wheelie bag next to him.
"Josh! Come on in," Auggie said with a smile. "I just have a couple of things to finish. Give me a few minutes and we'll be out of here, okay?"
"No problem Augs," Josh said. He left his bag by the door and settled in to one of the chairs by Auggie's desk. Thanks to a phone call it was almost half an hour later when Auggie finally logged off his computer and put his coat and scarf on.
"Sorry about that. Let's get out of here," he said as he grabbed his wallet and keys from the top desk drawer and made sure he had his iPhone.
When they reached Auggie's car Josh loaded his bag into the trunk while Auggie settled into the drivers seat.
"Okay Josh, want to ride up front with me or do you want to sit in the back?"
"Up front with you." Josh seemed slightly confused by the question. "Why?"
"Then I need you to give me a hand. I usually keep the wheelchair in the passenger seat, but if you put it in the back for me you can sit there."
"Oh, sure. I didn't think about that," Josh said, he looked a bit flustered.
"Don't worry about it. Here," Auggie said as he released one of the wheels and handed it to Josh. "Just stash it in the back seat." Ten minutes later Auggie pulled into traffic and headed toward Tysons Corner.
"Sweet ride Augs," Josh commented as he admired the interior of Auggie's BMW. "Do you still have the 'Vette by the way?"
"Yeah, it's in the garage. I'll probably put it up for sale in the spring."
"Really? I thought that was your dream car."
"Well…it is, but it's a collector's car with a manual transmission. There's no way to adapt it so I can drive it and it doesn't really make sense to keep paying taxes and insurance on it. Besides, I'm sure Annie would appreciate a garage space for her car too."
"I guess that makes sense. How's living together working out by the way?"
"It's great. I keep wondering when we'll have our first fall out though, things are almost too good to be true."
"Oh, it'll come soon enough, I'm sure. Meredith and I had lived together for almost six months before we had a big argument. She didn't talk to me for two days."
"That's harsh."
"Nah, I deserved it. Mom had to talk some sense into me before I admitted I was wrong."
"We can always count on Mom to kick some sense into us, can't we?" Auggie said with a laugh.
"Yep, we sure can."
When they entered the house 40 minutes later Annie warmly greeted them both. She kissed Auggie and hugged Josh.
"I've started on dinner like you asked me to Auggie. If you finish the cooking I'll set the table."
"Great, thanks Annie," Auggie said as he turned and headed into the kitchen.
"Thanks for letting me stay with you," Josh said to Annie they followed Auggie into the kitchen.
"No problem. I'd like to get to know Auggie's family and I know he missed you and wants to spend time with you."
"Hey Annie. 'He' is about 3 feet away and there's nothing wrong with 'his' hearing," Auggie cut in as he placed a wok on the wok burner and turned the gas on.
"I know Aug, sorry," Annie said as she walked up to Auggie, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head before she turned and headed for drawer with the tableware. Josh leaned against the kitchen island and observed the warm interactions and easy banter between his brother and girlfriend. The guilt that had been bothering him since Auggie's accident almost four years earlier was slowly dwindling away. He knew he'd always regret pushing Auggie to go off-piste skiing with him and Matt, but he appeared to have moved on and it was clear to Josh that Annie Walker had a lot to do with the fact that his baby brother seemed to be back to his old self.
A Wednesday in the middle of February Auggie was at work, deeply immersed in a string of coding when his iPhone rang. He let the call go to voicemail and decided to call whoever it was back when he was done. Just as the iPhone stopped ringing his the phone on his desk started ringing. With a sigh he grabbed the receiver.
"Anderson," he answered, sounding a bit curter than he intended to.
"Auggie?" It was Annie and she sounded like she'd been crying. Any thought of the code vanished from Auggie's head.
"Annie? What's wrong?" his voice was laced with worry.
"I…I fell and I broke my ankle. I'm at the ER, can you come and pick me up?"
"I'm on my way. Where are you?"
"Georgetown University Hospital."
"I'll be right there Annie, okay?"
Annie just sniffled in response, then she managed a strained "Thank you" before she ended the call. He made a quick call to Arthur Campbell who gave him the rest of the week off and then he pulled his coat and scarf from the coatrack in his office. On his way to his car he dropped by Stu and Barber's office to let them know what was going on and that he wouldn't be coming to the office for the rest of the week.
Two hours later Annie was as comfortable as she could be in bed, her leg resting on a pillow. Auggie had gone down to the pharmacy to get her prescribed painkillers. She was drifting off to a slumber when her iPhone started ringing. She grabbed the phone off her nightstand and answered without checking who was calling.
"Hullo…" she said groggily.
"Annie? Are you okay?" It was her sister Danielle.
"Not really. I fell and broke my ankle this morning."
"Oh my God. Do you need me to come over? Anything I can do?"
"I think Auggie's got it covered. He took the rest of the week off work to take care of me."
"That's so nice of him. I'm glad he's taking care of you. Just remember I'm only a phone call away if you need anything, okay?"
"Thanks Danielle. I'll keep that in mind when Auggie goes back to work next week."
"Well, the girls are calling, I'd better go. Love you Annie. Tell Auggie I said hi."
"Love you too. Bye."
Annie ended the call and put the phone back on her nightstand. A few minutes later she was slumbering.
"Damn! I guess I'll be pretty much stuck in one place. Crutches aren't working, they make my shoulder and elbow hurt even worse," Annie hissed as she sat down on the edge of the bed the following morning after a trip to the bathroom. She'd slammed her left shoulder pretty hard when she fell and moving around on crutches was painful. Auggie had entered the room just a few seconds before Annie left the bathroom and he remained quiet for a few more moments before he seemed to have an epiphany. "Not necessarily. What about giving my old wheelchair a go? It doesn't take much effort to get around on the smooth floors in the house. It might be less straining on your shoulder than the crutches."
"That could work," Annie said hesitantly. "I'll give it a try. It would be nice to be somewhat mobile."
"I'll go out in the garage and get it and check the air pressure in the tires. I haven't used it since our little experiment back in October."
Ten minutes later Auggie returned from the garage pushing his old wheelchair in front of him. He placed it next to the bed where Annie was sitting.
"Let's give this a try. I've got breakfast ready, so I hope you can get to the kitchen."
With a bit of effort Annie got up from the bed and settled into the wheelchair and followed Auggie toward the kitchen. Her shoulder still hurt a bit as she pushed herself toward the kitchen, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the crutches.
"Thanks Auggie, you're a genius," she exclaimed as she settled in by the table. "Now, where's the food? I'm starving!"
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